China exploits Taiwanese commentators to fuel propaganda, undermine its stability

Taipei [Taiwan], February 12 (ANI): According to a Taiwan Information Environment Research Center report, comments by Taiwanese commentators on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok posts, are regularly used by media in China to spread unfavourable perceptions of Taiwan.

The 20 most quoted Taiwanese figures were in October and November of last year, which was the month before and following the US Presidential election, as reported by Taipei Times.

Chu is the head of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Hsu is a member of the KMT, Huang is currently the acting chairman of the Taiwan People's Party, and Ho is a member of the New Party Taipei City Councillor. The remaining sixteen are commentators according to Taipei Times.

According to the survey as cited by Taipei Times, the number of military-focused commentators who made the top 10 increased significantly from the same period in 2023. Among them were Chang, a retired Air Force lieutenant general; Shuai, a former KMT politician; Li, a retired major general; and Lu, a former Navy lieutenant commander.

According to the report, reported by the Taipei Times, the majority of the quotes were about war, with the most often discussed subjects being Chinese military might or cross-strait conflict (51.69 per cent), "US scepticism theory" (24.83 per cent), and "cross-strait family hood" (13.77 per cent).

According to the report, quotes on "US scepticism theory" primarily asserted that China possesses more national power than the US.

According to the report, Huang was noted for his accusations of corruption against the Democratic Progressive Party, which Beijing exploited to further its efforts to paint a bad picture of Taiwan's administration, Taipei Times stated.

Earlier, Taiwan's National Security Bureau (NSB) reported a major surge increase in cyberattacks targeting the country in 2024, mostly from China. According to the NSB report, Taiwan's government networks faced an average of 2.4 million cyberattacks per day in 2024. This represents a staggering increase of over 100 per cent compared to the 1.2 million daily average in 2023. The report also noted that over 80 per cent of these cyberattacks specifically targeted government agencies. (ANI)

(The story has come from a syndicated feed and has not been edited by the Tribune Staff.)